"I remember as if it were yesterday..."

Discussion I overheard in the office upstairs:

Alec: “Did you watch This Week last night? If you want to see how much of a joke candidate Diane Abbott is, you should tune in to the first ten minutes and watch Digby Jones skewer her on some straightforward economic questions. Most enjoyable.”

Philip (Finance Director): “Yes I watched it last night, I doubt she will even get the thirty MP’s to sign her nomination.”

Terry (our boss): “You say that, but I remember as if it were yesterday nineteen seventy-four when Margaret first dared to stand against Ted, and everyone was saying exactly the same things about her being a joke candidate and a stalking horse for Sir Keith Joseph and the best Tory leader Labour could wish for. The MP's who signed Margaret's nominations were all marginal outsiders and Monday Club members. Admittedly she had to get far fewer nominations than the thirty Labour requires. Also MPs were more chivalrous in those days about not attacking a woman, whereas now they are vicious right from the start…”

An idea you can trace back to Homer's Illiad

Above: a couple of weeks back Turner prize-winning artist Grayson Perry fulminated about the concept of coolness. It is a position I have some sympathy with, since the use of "cool" as an acclamation is inherently unfair. However, just because we disapprove of something doesn't mean it will go away.

I also think Grayson Perry has got some of his assumptions wrong. Cool is more than just an expression of teenage approval, and is a pervasive concept that regulates society (or sub-groups within society - what Seth Godin would delineate as "tribes"). The concept of Cool relates to ethics, logic and the philosophy of language.

It's an idea you can trace back to Homer's Illiad.



Above: an example of the power of Cool can be seen in the Demos report on terrorism and how it can be countered by addressing the "cool factor".

As the Victorians taught us, if you can measure something you can control it.

Finest in the world

Lots of fresh produce is available at the moment if you only make the effort to drive out into the countryside.



Above: English asparagus is supposed to be the finest in the world. It is to do with the fluctuations in temperature and rainfall at the time it is growing. Imported asparagus tends to be hard and stalky.



Above: these are going to be last season's potatoes, but still good value if you load up with a sack or two.



Above: local honey varies in taste according to where the bees have gathered their pollen (orchards on the great plain, heather on the heaths, clover in the riverside pastures). Supermarket honey has been heat-treated and transported half-way round the world, so should be avoided. The Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf describes warriors drinking mead - honey wine.



Above: many farmhouse kitchens contain recipes collected over the generations. Often (if you ask) you find they have a ledger-book containing hand-written recipes dating back to the late Victorian period. Pies, jams, long-forgotten puddings etc.

Old politics from one of the new intake

Above: the Miliband brothers represented as the Mitchell brothers from Eastenders (this was by Rory Bremner).

Not impressed with the performance of new MP Tristram Hunt interviewed on the Today programme this morning. Instead of taking part in the discussion he just loudly recited a list of irrelevant party political points he wanted to make. It was an example of old politics from one of the new intake.

Demos is more encouraging about the new alignment in the current political settlement: http://www.demos.co.uk/blog/fieldofdreams

Newsnight yesterday used a panel to research possible new leaders for the Labour Party and found David Miliband was the unanimous preferred choice. Later in the programme Jeremy Paxman asked David Miliband if he was a “wonk”, which seemed to discomfort him. David Miliband was formerly part of the Primrose Hill Gang which included James Purnell.



Above: although David Miliband may be popular among ordinary people he is not entirely popular among Labour Party supporters. This is a savage attack by Guardian journalist Charlie Brooker (from May 2008). Charlie Brooker is an alumni of Central London Polytechnic.

Richard Fuller MP

Among the more interesting new MPs is Richard Fuller, MP for Bedford.

Intellectually capable.

He did PPE at Oxford. Former TRG (maybe current for all I know). Has always lived in Bedford, so is not a carpet-bagger.

Manage popular expectations in dire economic circumstances

Above: old guidebook to Hughendon Manor in Buckinghamshire, which is preserved as a Benjamin Disraeli museum. This booklet has a pre-decimal price so must date from the 1960s. It lists hundreds of Disraeli books, pictures and mementos, and is an example of a scholarly guidebook from the pre-dumbed down era.

David Cameron intends to model his premiership on that of Benjamin Disraeli, the only British Prime Minister from a minority background. There was a distinct Young England tone to his speech in Downing Street yesterday – the need for effective and sustainable social justice in an industrial society. It’s an interesting ideology.

He will also have to manage popular expectations in dire economic circumstances.

The challenge will be to make austerity and restraint desirable, rather than encouraging people to expect an early return to the boom and bust cycle.

Although consumerism is constantly portrayed as a “good” there is no rational reason for this. Consumerism has brought a lot of problems to society, to the environment and to individuals. It is irrational for people to over-eat until they are fat, over-shop until they are burdened with debt, over-work themselves until they become stressed etc.

Consumerism relies for its power on the trigger of Maslow’s needs for Esteem and Self-Actualisation.

If the government can deliver to its population access to “Esteem” and “Self-Actualisation” without the purchase of consumer goods (which do not actually satisfy either of these needs) not only will many economic and environmental problems be solved, they will also have established a political usp that will be of value at the next election in 2015.

New Prime Minister

David Cameron has just been appointed new Prime Minister.

Apparently he is going to run the government in the one-nation style of Disraeli.

I wish him well.

Browbeat the media

A rare public example of how New Labour privately browbeat the media for so many years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gkHwU4DRA8

Self-imposed exile

I know Charbonnel et Walker is the best chocolate in the world.

I know the packaging has the Royal Warrant embossed in gold.

But there are times when I miss the taste of Cadbury's Daily Milk.

I suppose most self-imposed exiles must feel this way.

I suppose all self-imposed exiles are ultimately futile.

If only the evil directors of Kraft would give up and go away, and we could return to how things were before their predatory take-over.

The hostile take-over (financed with debt) was condemned by Nick Clegg during one of the election Leadership Debates. If only Nick Clegg would insist, as part of his coalition negotiations with the Conservatives, to a punitive one-off retrogressive attack on Kraft operations in the United Kingdom. In the good old days Kraft directors would be seized as soon as they set foot on British soil, be hung drawn and quartered, and have their heads stuck on pikes on London bridge.

Government

Out of all the fine writing that has accompanied the general election I think this is my favourite piece.

As for the election result itself, I was hoping for a clear Conservative win.

Since the smoking ban no-one mentions "smoke-filled rooms" anymore, but metaphorically this is where the next government will be decided.

Neanderthal

Very interesting item on Channel 4 News this evening about dna abstracted from Neanderthal bones.

Analysis and comparisions suggest that Neanderthals and Early Moderns interbred in Europe and the Middle East (but not in Africa apparently).

Neanderthals had a distinctive appearance - low forehead, boney ridge above the eyebrows, a boney bulge on the nape of the neck. Often on the tube I look at people and wonder whether they have the neanderthal gene. Now we know they do.

Despite their ferocious appearance neanderthals were quite sophisticated.

More:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/05/06/2295639.aspx

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/neanderthals.html

Mauern caves where neaderthals were found with spears and javelins:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1324768

Pundits

I will miss the election campaigns once they all stop.

And I will especially miss all the pundits, who have almost become familiar friends.

Most of all I think I will miss the sense of narrative running through the day - Today on Radio 4, Daily Politics if I can take an early lunch, PM on Radio 4, Channel 4 News, Newsnight, This Week, The Daily Mirror, The Guardian, The Independent.

The Labour vote is collapsing

Above: even the New Left Review is saying there is no point in voting for this version of the Labour party (click on the image to read the text).

The general election is on Thursday.

There is a growing awareness in the media that the Labour vote is collapsing. Writing in today's Daily Mirror even diehard socialist Kevin Maguire said he was undecided whether to go on supporting Labour. The fear in Labour must be that they are facing a complete rout.

However, a collapse of this kind has been inevitable for some years. The loss of thousands of seats at council elections over the past five years has deprived the party of county and local councillors. These councillors were the committed activists who got the vote out on previous elections - without them an election win this time is highly unlikely (impossible in fact).

Folk-memory

After Sunday lunch (roast lamb) I drove about an hour northwards into the central hills. I would have got there a good deal sooner if I hadn't got lost in the winding lanes. Usual sense of expectation as I entered an area I had not previously traversed.



Above: the geology of the central hills is very interesting. Chalk, limestone and sandstone have formed the landscape. The area is noted for chalybeate springs which well up at various points.

During the Second World War a V2 rocket hit the hill you can see above.



Above: the village I was visiting was holding a "scarecrow festival" with straw effigies set up at the entrances of the houses. Also there were these giant figures made from bales of straw. Personally I found them all a bit sinister.



Above: the church is fourteenth-century and built of greenstone. I took this photograph towards the end of the afternoon when people were packing up, but earlier a maypole had been set up where you can see the parked car. There had also been Morris dancers earlier in the day.



Above: the White Hart pub was the meeting place of a nineteenth-century literary society which included one of the most famous Victorian poets. A temporary car park had been set up for the day on the village sports field opposite the pub. The village football team acted as car park stewards, tumbling out of the pub with pint glasses in hand as each new car arrived (the traffic was not very heavy).



Above: I would estimate there were about a hundred of the scarecrows throughout the village. Most of the visitors seemed to be local. Despite the forecast for heavy showers the day was warm and sunny.



Above: these two, at the entrance to Burnt House Farm are supposed to be gypsies. There is a legend of two gypsies being killed by lightning in the village in 1830. Gypsies moved into the area during the summer looking for field work.



Above: I went into the church where a folk band was playing. I know we are supposed to admire the purity of folk music played on authentic instruments, but they did go on a bit. Also the audience filled the building so I couldn't really look around.



Above: my main motive in visiting the church was to see this armour, which belonged to a former royal Champion. Slightly disappointing as this is plain seventeenth-century armour, and not the Augsburg armour of the medieval period that I had been hoping for. The family was a cadet branch of the main line.



Above: although we normally associate scarecrows as standing in the middle of fields, these were all at the entrances of houses. There was something about these scarecrows standing at the gates that made my mind struggle to remember something I had once read. And eventually, after about an hour, the recollection "pinged" into my mind...



Above: Sir James Frazer writes extensively about straw effigies in The Golden Bough. Describing a custom that was prevalent throughout northern Europe until the early modern period, straw effigies were set up at the entrances to houses at the beginning of Spring to confuse witches who were feared to blight the crops. The witches would curse the effigies and leave the householders untouched.

The straw effigies would remain in place for a week before being burned at the ringing of the Sunday Vespers bell.

Obviously there was no connection between this village show and the former ritual, but I did wonder if a folk-memory had lingered in the collective sub-conscious, leading to the organisers of this festival to arrange their straw effigies at the garden gates of villagers.



Above: as I left the village I saw another of the giant figures. Sir James Frazer records May Day processions in which giants of straw were carried through villages before being burned as the on-lookers sang the Salve Regina. An interesting afternoon.

Salve Regina: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoSuyUFiEYo

Dateline London

One of the most civilised moments of the weekend is to watch Dateline London, almost always with a cup of tea. Today the programme was ruined by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown who threw a bad-tempered tantrum, becoming abusive towards one of the other panellists. She is completely unsuited to this kind of rational exchange of views.

Bloomsbury

Apologies for the blurred image.

Evening outdoor soiree in a communal garden in Bloomsbury. There are hundreds of institutes, learned societies, and professional associations in the area. Social interactions of this kind combine a surface urbanity (and apparent indifference) with the exchange of gossip and the discussion of very serious obscure ideas.

Although the gardens are communal to the terrace, they are railed off from from the public. There are many of these gardens in Bloomsbury. Most are private, some are public.

A few words of praise or damnation at these gatherings can decide professional careers.

A fair price for milk

Above: as soon as I read that Marks & Spencer have committed to paying farmers a fair price for milk and rewarding them for high standards of animal welfare, I immediately resolved to buy all my milk from M&S. This is exactly how the food supply chain should be working. At last someone is talking some sense over this issue.



Above: however it is not always that easy to get to a Marks & Spencer shop. I can't really buy it in central London and take it all the way home (not in Summer anyway, even with a cool-bag). I will have to stock up properly at the weekend.

Note: later this evening I will watch the last of the "presidential style" debates. I am appalled by the events of yesterday. How could "Gordon" have been so stupid.

“Voting Tory is quite cool”

Above: this appeared in the Daily Mirror – I forget which columnist.

Dermot O’Leary is reported to have asked Conservative Leader David Cameron “Do you think it can ever be cool to be a Conservative?” This was a trick question, as generally politics in the United Kingdom is “uncool” (and we should keep it that way). But there are a number of implied issues in the question.

Does it matter to young people whether the people they vote for are cool or not? If yes, why does it matter? And is Dermot O’Leary through his question raising the fear among young people of being “uncool” if they vote Conservative?

Does it actually matter if politicians are uncool? Is coolness significant in a political context? Is it possible to marshal the characteristics of coolness in support of a political movement (the only examples I can think of are foreign – John F Kennedy, Barack Obama, Gabriele D'Annunzio etc)?

By my reckoning there are only about five hundred cool people in the public sphere in the United Kingdom, so presumably it would be possible to recruit them to a political cause.



Above: an interview being set up on College Green (an area of grass opposite the Houses of Parliament – the path you can see features prominently in “establishing shots” of politicians).

An answer to Dermot O’Leary’s question was provided by the Today programme this morning. Writer Will Self presented a short item, recorded among the mainstream interviews on College Green, on “absurdist” performance artists who are using the general election as a backdrop for their art. One of these avant-garde artists (I think he was a Situationist) told Will Self “voting Tory is quite cool”.



Above: picture of Dermot O’Leary that appeared in an advertisement in Sky magazine. Possibly his head is over-large. I keep asking myself whether there is such a thing as a cool aesthetic.

More on Situationists: http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Situationist_International

Processology

On the Today programme this morning Foreign Secretary David Miliband used the word "processology".

I have never heard of this word before.

Looking on Google there are about seven hundred references to "processology". It seems to be associated with neuro-linguistic programming. Alistair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer) is also listed as using the word.

Am I missing something?

The Daily Politics this lunchtime was going on about how none of the parties were telling us the truth about the financial deficit.

Vince Cable has warned that the Liberal Democrats would impose "more ferocious spending cuts even than Margaret Thatcher".

Am I missing something?

We need thirty billion (American billion) pounds sterling to halve the deficit in four years.

There are about thirty million productive taxpayers in the United Kingdom.

That's £250 per year per head for four years.

It's five pounds per week. Even my cousins who live in Bellingham (and have nothing) could afford that. Even my old friend who lives on the Marsh Farm Estate in Luton (and has less than nothing) could afford that.

So what is all this talk about savage cuts and unrest in the streets?

It's five pounds a week for four years.

Send out a hypothecated tax bill for £1,000 with payments spread over four years and let's just pay the money and get it over with.

Or am I missing something?